We have Mediacom cable and their "On Demand" (OD) service knocks down the video quality from the original 1080i to 480i. This causes the edges to "stretch" to fill the screen. When the camera pans a scene, it nearly makes me dizzy. Not to mention the loss of detail and sharpness. Catching up on a Showtime series is a good use for OD, but hell, I can hardly stand it. I have an excellent TV, but it's kinda like shooting crap ammo in a finely-tuned SIG. (made pistol reference )

Does your cable service do this also? Do you think Mediacom will give a shit if I complain? Am I OCD?

I have Cox and they don't do that. I would call and complain.

That does not sound normal at all. I'd be on the phone with tech support and demanding they fix it ASAP.

Doesn't happen to me with Comcast Xfinity -- unless the On Demand content is only available in 480i.

Sometimes you are able to choose between HD and SD for OD programs, make sure you are choosing HD if it gives you the choice. One thing I deal with on a daily basis (I work for a "hated" cable company), is that people think WE are in control of the on demand (whether hd or sd or charged). I tell people that if we could provide each channel in HD, and every show OD for free in HD we would, because that would trump everyone else.

Doesn’t happen for me on Verizon Fios either


Yes it would piss me off


Yes I would complain

Went to Mediacom's local office today on the way to the range. Nice lady said my cable box is too old, bring it in. I did bring two of them by after my shooting, and she gave me two Arris DCX700. Hooked them up and .... no love. Still 480i On Demand. Looong call to an Indian woman who couldn't help but promised a tech would fix it on their end in 24-48 hours. Asked for a file # in case I had to call back. She assured that she had documented everything. I asked for a file or issue number again. She gave me the 855 call in phone #! I just groaned and hung up.

On demand with DTV is in HD but can't ff through commercials

Finally got to the bottom of this. Nope, regular HD cable box doesn't carry Showtime/Premiums/Series/Billons in HD. BUT! a TiVo box does.